🎶Melancholy’s Enemy🎶

You can listen here:

https://youtu.be/oKNZ6mqlN1c?si=InDJUIYwt-Z1MpuI

(Sorry to make you go to a separate page. I sang and recorded this entire thing on Soundtrap and realized at the very last minute before the deadline that the WAV file is not compatible with Vocal. 😭 I was super bummed because I worked really hard on this. However, I figured out shortly after that I could screen record it from Soundtrap and upload it to YouTube. Unfortunately, the option to embed the link was no longer available at that point. However, it’s better than nothing! ☺️

Verse I

Is it too late to wait for my true prince?

This damn world’s fate is now stripped and gone to shit

I sought out rainbows through life’s storms and mist, but

I never got the fairytale or the glitz

I fought the monsters from my mind’s abyss with poetry

I walked the thin line between my sanity and throwing fits

I calmed so many tempests with my stories and my pretty myths, but

I never thought I’d sing a melody like this

*

Pre-Chorus

I’m still convinced that the things I write can come to life

I don’t wanna live in this world’s tragedy or goddamn crisis

I just wanna live in the fantasy I know exists

In my wistful mind— on the other side of all of this

*

Chorus

I’ll be Melancholy’s enemy— I’ll be joy’s superheroine

I’ll spin alchemy like I did this melody— I’ll fix these blues within

I’ll remedy this madness with the lyric light that is my magic

I’ll summon happiness… I’ll write it into existence

I’ll be Melancholy’s enemy— a superheroine

I’ll find my metaphorical prince…

(whatever that is, whatever that is)

Hm —- Hm—- La da da, La da da

Hm —- Hm—- La da da, La da da

*

Verse II

Is it too soon to bloom from sunlight’s kiss?

This cocoon’s killin’ me— I’m a captive of my chrysalis

I’m so sick of darkness and these narcicists’ plot twists

I cannot seem to win— I’m bruised by this circus

I’ll summon the lightning with my writing, dream-drunk wrists

I’ll drum up ectasy— I’m a phoenix, blossoming from ashes

I’ll become someone who turns night time into spring, sunlit

I’ll instrument melodies that help hearts soar, like this

*

Bridge

I still believe that the things I dream are meant for me

Call me a crazy fantasist,

Call me a happy-ever-after addict,

But I will summon bliss, you’ll see

So come with me, Prince, come with me (and let’s)

Evade these melancholy plot twists

*

Chorus (Repeat)

I’ll be Melancholy’s enemy— I’ll be joy’s superheroine

I’ll spin alchemy like I did this melody— I’ll fix these blues within

I’ll remedy this madness with the lyric light that is my magic

I’ll summon happiness… I’ll write it into existence

I’ll be Melancholy’s enemy— a superheroine

I’ll find my metaphorical prince…

(whatever that is, whatever that is)

Hm —- Hm—- La da da, La da da

Hm —- Hm—- La da da, La da da

*

Outtro

Is it too late to wait for my true prince?

This cocoon is killin’ me—

I’ll be a warrior for happiness…

(whatever that is)

*

Author's Note:

Man, where to start? This project was a beast.

When—after staring blankly at this challenge for a handful of weeks—I finally decided I felt brave enough to give it a shot, I laid out one firm rule for myself: I would not use any AI. None. Not for vocals, not for melody composing, not for background music, and (definitely—though I hope obviously) not for lyrics. As mentioned above, I used Soundtrap to record this—an online digital audio workstation I had a lot of fun with.

It’s been two days short of forever since I sang Jazz Choir in high school. (Jazz Choir sounds impressive, but it wasn’t. We kinda sucked, lol.) Singing is something I truly regret not sticking with. While I never considered myself to be a good singer (and definitely still don’t), I truly did enjoy it. In fact, thinking about how far along I could be with singing at this point makes me sad.

But, here I am. And, ten years of coming home with a hoarse voice after teaching young children all day had me believing I no longer possessed working vocal cords.

But I’d already written the lyrics, composed the melody on sheet music, and altered the background loops. And, I was determined. 

My Birthday was March 30th, and when my family asked me what I wanted, I told them I was working on something and that I needed a proper mic for my laptop. I was a little secretive about it—I get like that when I’m not sure how well something will turn out. I came home from my birthday dinner with a pink Yeti Blue and the memory of them all looking at me strangely after giving it to me. I’m kinda the family odd ball—a creative introvert amidst a flock of extroverts. I’m pretty sure they thought I was going to start an ASMR channel on TikTok or something.

Anyway, with a proper mic, I was ready to start dusting off my pipes. I felt kinda cringe, to be honest. This was going to go one of two ways—either I was going to be really excited about it, or I was going to scrap it. (I scrap a lot of things I start working on.)

Since I don’t have an unlimited amount of words here, I’ll move on to how I came up with the melody and some other little specific details about creating this piece that you might find interesting.

Soundtrap has an entire database of royalty free background loops to choose from. After browsing around for a bit, I stumbled upon this guitar piece that I instantly connected with. I felt it fit the tone of my lyrics and the message I was trying to convey perfectly. With the loop picked out, I was able to gauge the key. From there, my piano lessons (from I won’t say how long ago) allowed me to float some agreeable notes over it. I’ve never written a song like this before, and I’m really proud of what I came up with! I made sure to keep it in my own vocal range (I sang alto in choir, so I have a lower female register) while at the same time being intentional about incorporating some variation (head voice, chest voice, and the occassional belted high c—which I honestly think I sound like shit on, lol). I will admit that the guitar loop from Soundtrack guided me with the tone of the song, helping me create that melancholic yet determined and wistful vibe I was aiming for. I imagined singing the song in my head before I actually attempted it and played around for days on a keyboard app on my phone. I constantly asked myself: does this note represent the emotional weight of this word? Does the story call for my vocal dynamics to be powerful or soft here?

And...well, the rest was pretty chaotic. Somehow I got done what I got done. For the most part, I’m happy with how my vocals turned out, but there are some areas that make me gag a little, lol. There is also some background noise and little clicks from my computer that my mic kept picking up. In a perfect world, I’d go back and clean all that up.

Because I’m really not that great of a vocalist, I recorded this in tiny clips and then pieced it together like they do in the recording studio. This allowed me to showcase what I believe to be my best takes. I refused to use autotune… so this process took forever. Especially because I’m really picky about my vibrato. I had planned to go in and add more harmony, but time did not permit! The little “hms” and “la da da’s” at the end of the chorus are so random and something I threw in on a complete whim. ☺️

One interesting detail you might notice is that the very end of the recorded song is slightly different from the lyrics. As I was composing the end of the chorus alongside the music, it just kind of naturally asked to be concluded. “I’ll find my metaphoric prince—whatever that is” struck me as a very compelling ending alongside the gradual fade out of the background loop, whereas in lyric form, I tend to think it reads better with the outtro. I chose to keep the outtro as part of the lyrics even though I ultimately did not record it.

I’ll end this by pointing out (although I hope this is obvious) that the song is not about “waiting for a prince”. ✨Prince✨ is a metaphor I used to represent finally finding—through creation—that element to life that will make my heart soar. This could be different for everyone. I have my own personal meaning. 🫶🏼